8 Hobbies You Can Do From Your Den

hobbies Woodworking tools, a laptop, and beer bottles

Football, tennis, hiking, drone flying, vegetable growing - just some of the hobbies which are outside-oriented. With top x hobby list after top x hobby list being dominated by activities done outside, we thought to do the opposite - showing you 8 hobbies you can do from the comfort of your man cave.

1. Homebrewing

Experience the ancient art of brewing your own beer. Unlike the B2C (business to customer) beer market that costs a fortune to enter and is shrouded by regulations, being a homebrewer requires only a few pieces of equipment, some raw ingredients, and a hefty dose of patience.

Conveniently, there are kits you can buy which contain all of the above (except patience). The one we consistently recommend is the brewery in a box amber ale kit, but a quick search will uncover ones with unique malt extract and hop combinations - giving you a vastly different end products.

Related: Ideas for bar-themed dens

2. Robotics

Having a degree in robotics engineering isn’t needed to pick up this hobby. Like homebrewing, affordable starter kits are created for the layman while still allowing for complicated builds.

The two leaders in this space are Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Both are high-quality pieces of hardware but are aimed at different experience levels (Arduino being the more beginner-friendly one of the both).

Project ideas:

  • Digital clock
  • Weather station
  • Personal assistant
  • Pomodoro timer

Disclaimer: We highly recommend learning the programming language called Python. It is powerful, widely used, and known for its intuitive syntax that is easy to read

3. Flipping

Simply put, flipping is the act of buying something and selling it for a higher price. And since we are talking about doing it from your man cave, all you need is a computer/phone, an internet connection, and basic investigative skills.

Where to look?

Ebay and Craigslist are the two best places to start since new product listings appear multiple times a second. Each listing is potential profit!

What to look for?

As long as an item varies in price and has a decent-sized market, it can be flipped.

Antiques are great because they appreciate over time and have buyers who are willing to pay far more than what you think it is “worth”.

Avoid electronics. The demand is massive but margins are far too slim. You will be competing with thousands of other individuals and businesses selling the exact same thing.

Tip: setup Google Alerts for your main categories/niches/keywords. Even if it doesn't lead to anything, you will become familiar with what sells, different seasonal trends, and what customers are asking for.

Continuing your education

Flipping is one of the few activities on this list which can turn into a full-time job. Once the basics are down, it is just a matter of scaling up and optimizing processes.

Learn more by going to this subreddit. It contains a wealth of knowledge including guides, frequently asked questions, up-to-date trends, case studies, and more.

4. Weightlifting

We have all seen the advertisements for machines that let you exercise from home and ”get abs in an instant.” Every month comes with a new product with bigger claims than the last. Their success, as you probably know, is less about efficacy and more about marketing.

So, with the CrunchMaster6000 out of the picture, what does that leave? The humble dumbbells, barbells, and pull up bars. Depending on the space available in your man cave, this could mean a set of adjustable dumbbells; dumbbells, a barbell and bench press and multiple plates; or pullup bar and bricks from that unfinished project.

If you want a hobby that is healthy, challenging, fun and rewarding, lifting weights is for you.

5. Reading

Congratulations, you are doing this right now! In all seriousness, all of us do it but only some do it as a hobby. This can mean reading the newspaper over coffee; a short story during a 15-minute break; academic articles; us, or a 600-page behemoth of a book. Reading something from start to finish is rare in this age of instant-gratification.

Tools needed:

  1. A book or ebook
  2. A light source
  3. A set of eyes

6. Meditation

Despite how movies portray it--legs crossed, arms down, palms up, humming--meditation can be done in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons.

Some have you focusing on a specific object or idea for extended periods of time, stopping intruding thoughts at the door. Others, such as mindfulness, have you embracing those intrusions by simply acknowledging the things you hear, feel, smell, and the thoughts, memories, and fears that seemingly appear out of nowhere.

The Headspace app is a free and easy way to get started.

Benefits include:

  • Increased concentration
  • Reduced stress
  • Increased perception of time (i.e. living in the present)
  • Better quality of sleep

7. Woodworking

If homebrewing is about brewing at home and weightlifting is about lifting weights, woodworking is exactly what you'd think - working with wood.

Whether you plan to make cabinets; carve a stump, or have a go at joinery, there is a tremendous amount of resources out there to help you (namely project plans with step-by-step instructions).

This is a slightly more expensive pastime. When you think carving knives, chisels, a clamp, mallet, and hatchet is enough, your next project will require $200 more in tools and materials. Thankfully, makerspaces are here to save the day. They are essentially playgrounds for like-minded people wanting to build, learn, and grow. Subscriptions grant you access to a library of tools at a fraction of the cost of buying them yourself.

8. Lock Picking

It goes without saying that we don’t condone this for nefarious purposes. So why list it, you may ask? The art of picking locks is an incredibly rewarding hobby that requires only four key pieces of equipment: a lock, tension wrench, rake and pick.

Once you become reasonably proficient, you will gain a deeper appreciation for the masters like bosnianbill and the share amount of locks they work with.

Aside from good ol’ practice being the quickest route to success; strategy and critical thinking are needed to overcome more complex mechanisms.

Lock yourself out of your man cave? Now you won’t need to break a window to get in!